Federal Judge finds TCEQ violated the Endangered Species Act.
A federal judge has ruled that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was responsible for the deaths of 23 rare whooping cranes in the winter of 2008-2009.
Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack in Corpus Christi found that TCEQ’s management of rivers feeding San Antonio and Aransas bays caused their salt levels to rise and says the state must develop a conservation plan to protect the last naturally migrating flock of the endangered birds.
Her order also bars the state from issuing any new water permits on the rivers.